System and method of selective advertising on a TV channel

ABSTRACT

A method and system for providing selective advertising on a television channel is accomplished by downloading appropriate advertisements from an advertising server to a subscriber&#39;s set top box over an out-of-band channel. The set top box monitors for triggers to provide advertisements to the subscriber&#39;s television. The advertisements can be downloaded in advance of any ad opportunity triggers to a local storage means associated with the set top box, if available.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] This invention relates generally to advertising associated with avideo stream. More particularly, the present invention is a system andmethod for providing advertising to a consumer without the need formultiplexing hardware to insert the advertising into a live videostream.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Providing advertising to consumers has long been the subject ofmuch research, especially in how to best provide appropriate advertisingto the relevant consumer market. For example, a manufacturer sellingautomobiles would not likely be well satisfied when such advertising isonly provided on a children's channel. Since both the interest andmarket power of children for such a product would be low. Further,certain demographic markets within the country have different desiresfor goods and services. Therefore, even during certain prime time hours,the same advertising might yield greater or lesser success dependingupon the region of the country in which the advertising is actually run.

[0003] Much research has shown that when advertising is customized toindividual markets, and even to individual viewers, that the response tosuch advertising is much greater. Since advertisers continually searchfor the most efficient way to spend advertising dollars, a tremendousneed exists to ensure that particular advertisements are served to anaudience that is most likely to respond favorably to suchadvertisements.

[0004] Network television over the years has attempted to target itsadvertisement based upon the potential viewers for a particular programat a particular hour. However, with the advent of cable television, andthe local and regional markets that are served by individual cableoperators, the potential exists to provide advertisement that is muchmore targeted to the individuals within a particular cable system.Distribution of programming and advertisement occurs through a set topbox, which is connected, directly to the viewer's television. These settop boxes have become increasingly sophisticated over the years, suchthat they now contain both processing capability and memory for storageof instructions and other content.

[0005] What would therefore be truly useful is a system and method thatuses the capabilities of the set top box to receive and manage, togetherwith the cable operator's server operations, advertisements that arepresented to individual viewers or groups of users. Thus, a moretargeted advertising campaign can be offered to merchants desiring toreach a more appropriate audience with their advertisements andadvertising budgets.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] It is therefore an object of the present invention to providetargeted advertising to consumers via a cable network system.

[0007] It is a further objective of the present invention to provideadvertising over a cable network system that is targeted to specificgroups or individuals who are subscribers to the cable system.

[0008] It is yet another objective of the present invention to provideadvertisements without the need for broadcasting of such advertisementsover an entire cable network system.

[0009] It is yet another objective of the present invention to serveadvertisements to viewers associated with a live video stream.

[0010] It is a further objective of the present invention to providetargeted advertisements to viewers associated with a live video streamwithout the need for a large complex multiplexing system.

[0011] It is yet another objective of the present invention to utilizethe set top box for a particular viewer to store advertisements to bedisplayed to the viewer.

[0012] It is a further objective of the present invention to use the settop box for providing signaling to an advertising server to provideadvertising to a viewer at a particular time.

[0013] It is a further objective of the present invention to employ theset top box to store advertisements that are appropriate to the channelbeing viewed by a viewer.

[0014] It is yet another objective of the present invention to utilizethe set top box for serving advertisements to viewers when browserapplications are being employed.

[0015] These and other objectives of the present invention will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art by a review of the specificationthat follows.

[0016] The present invention is a system and method for servingadvertisements to individual viewers or groups of viewers on a cablenetwork system. The present invention allows a cable network operator toselect specific advertisements that would be displayed on a viewer's TVscreen, depending upon who the specific set top box is assigned to, andupon the channel that is being viewed by the viewer at a particulartime.

[0017] The system basically comprises a set top box, a cable operatorheadend, and an advertising server/carousel. The advertising serverholds formatted advertisements with appropriate indicator informationassigning the ads to specific channels of content. The advertisingserver delivers advertisements to the set top box when the set top boxis first turned on during a particular viewing session by the viewer andperiodically thereafter.

[0018] The set top box comprises signaling and storage means such thatsignals can be provided to the cable operator headend, and so thatadvertisements that are downloaded from the advertising server can bestored in the set top box for subsequent display to the user, or storedin other home server type of storage networked to the set top box.

[0019] Individual subscriber information is stored at the cable operatorheadend and advertising server such that certain demographic, or commonchannel preference pattern information concerning the individual viewermay be stored and correlated with the advertisements to be served tothat particular viewer.

[0020] Advertisements that are stored in the advertising server haveassociated channel information stored along with the advertisement. Inthis fashion, advertisements that are appropriate to children's channelare so flagged. Similarly, advertisements that relate to the content ofother channels are also flagged so that advertisements appropriate tothe channel being viewed are downloaded to the set top box.

[0021] When the set top box is first turned on and periodically thereafter, advertisements are downloaded to the set top box. When a viewerviews a particular channel, advertisements that are identified with thatspecific channel are chosen from those stored on the set top box andsubsequently displayed to the viewer.

[0022] In the event that the set top box has limited memory, andtherefore is not capable of holding a large number of advertisements forany particular channel, the set top box can signal the cable operatorheadend each time that a channel is changed. Thereafter, the advertisingserver and cable operator headend will serve advertisements to theviewer, depending upon the channel that is being viewed. Alternativelyonly advertising associated with a set of channels that the viewercommonly spends time viewing can downloaded with high probability ofbeing the set of advertisements needed on the set top box.

[0023] Actual delivery of the advertisement to the TV screen isaccomplished by an application that runs on the set top box, and whichnotes the time slot availability for the display of advertisementsduring the course of any video programming. Thus, video content isdisplayed for the viewer and, upon an appropriate trigger indicatingwhen an advertising slot is available, the set top box serves theappropriate advertisement to the viewer depending upon the channel thatis being viewed.

[0024] Data for the advertisement is passed to the set top box via theout-of-band channel via Quadrature Phase Shift Key (QPSK) or on one ofthe inband channels via Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM). Thesemodulations are a preferred embodiment, but do not limit the inventionto use of other out-of-band or in-band modulations such as DOCSIS.

[0025] The end result of this process is a more selective control forpresenting advertising to viewers which is targeted not only to thelocal cable operator market but is also capable of being served basedupon individual viewer's demographic information. This system is capableof being used not only with normal television programming but can alsobe used with Internet browser and browser-like applications. Inaddition, the cable operator can introduce advertising to individualviewers without having to insert the advertising into a broadcast feed,along with the video content that is to be displayed to the viewer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0026]FIG. 1 illustrates the overall architecture of the presentinvention.

[0027]FIG. 2 illustrates the overall flow for exchange of data andadvertisements for one embodiment of the present invention.

[0028]FIG. 3 illustrates a typical arrangement for a set top box used inthe present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0029] The present invention comprises a system and method forpresenting advertisements to individual viewers on a cable networksystem without the need for multiplexing equipment. To providecustomization of advertising for each individual user in the cable headend would require a large set of complex multiplexing equipment, andpotentially be a very inefficient use of bandwidth resources while usingthe set top in this manner creates a more scalable solution for targetedselective advertising.

[0030] Referring first to FIG. 1, the overall architecture of thepresent invention is illustrated. The system of the present inventioncomprises an advertising server 10, holding a variety of advertisementsthat are to be displayed to viewers of a cable network system.Advertisements on the advertising server 10 have channel associationassociated with each advertisement. This channel information provides atag that identifies a specific advertisement as being appropriate fordisplay on a particular channel when that channel is being viewed by anindividual viewer/subscriber.

[0031] In addition to simple channel-based advertisement selection,wherein advertisements for display are selected by a “channel id,” it isalso possible to select a group or subgroup of advertisements fordisplay at particular times, which may or may not be tied to a channelor group of channels. Initially, advertisements are stored on theadvertising server and are downloaded to the set-top when any of thefollowing triggers occur:

[0032] When the set-top is initially “booted,” i.e., this trigger willcome from the set-top unit when it finished the “boot” process;

[0033] When the set-top user changes to another channel (and remains onthat channel for a given length of time e.g. >5 seconds;

[0034] When a time trigger occurs, e.g., when the time changes from 6:59p.m. to 7.00 p.m. (presumably indicating a “programming change” on aparticular channel); this trigger may come from either the advertisingserver itself or from the set-top;

[0035] When a set-top explicitly requests an advertisement or group ofadvertisements from the advertising server; this trigger may occur atany time but is pre-empted by the other triggers previously described;and

[0036] By detecting a unique program identifier PID in the in-bandprogram stream.

[0037] The advertising server 10 is connected to the system router orswitch 12 which in turn is connected to and controlled by a digitalnetwork controller 14. Video signals for programming and content aresent via a video processing unit 16, which provides some of the multiplebroadcast bands of a variety of video channels. This video processingunit 16 is a standard available piece of networking equipment such asthe Broadband Integrated Gateway from Scientific Atlanta, whosecharacteristics are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

[0038] The video content is sent via a QAM in channel modulator bank 18to a combiner 20, which in turn combines and sends the video signals tofilter 28 for subsequent distribution to an individual viewer's set topbox 30.

[0039] Individual advertisements can reach the set top box forsubsequent storage via several paths. When set top box 30 is firstturned on during a particular viewing session, a signal is sent viafilter 28 via out-of-band signal to splitter 26. The signal isdemodulated via out of band QPSK demodulator bank 24. The signal fromthe set top box 30 is then provided to router 12, which in turn providesthe information that set top box 30 is now online to advertising server10. These modulations are a preferred embodiment, but do not limit theinvention to use of other out-of-band or in-band modulations such asDOCSIS or any particular frequency spectrum relationship between thein-band and out-of-band channels.

[0040] Once advertising server 10 receives the signal from set top box30 identifying the particular user/subscriber, advertisements that areappropriate to that particular user/subscriber and to the variety ofchannels to which the user/subscriber subscribes, based on informationstored on server 10 or optional subscriber information server 11, issent via router 12 through out-of-band QPSK modulator bank 22 tocombiner 20. Thereafter, the advertising signals are sent through filter28 to set top box 30 where they are stored.

[0041] As noted earlier, all advertising that is served from advertisingserver 10 and stored on set top box 30 is tagged with a channel tag,which identifies the channel that is associated with the advertisement.Set top box 30 comprises instructions for storing the taggedadvertisement and for displaying the advertisement that is associatedwith a particular channel only when that particular channel is beingviewed. Set top box 30 delivers video, audio, graphics, or other staticcontent to a display device that is served by the cable operator headendto the set top box over a particular channel. When a trigger indicativeof an advertising “opportunity” occurs via one of the mechanismsdescribed above, set top box 30 serves the appropriately taggedadvertisement to the user's television screen. Timing of advertisementand length of advertisement can be keyed to a start time and totaladvertising time that is available for the particular advertisingopportunity.

[0042] In the event that set top box 30 or other network accessiblelocal storage does not have sufficient capacity to store a number ofadvertisements, the system of the present invention can also operateupon a signal that is presented by set top box 30 in real time to thecable operator headend.

[0043] In the case where set top box 30 does not have sufficient memoryfor storage of multiple advertisements, whenever a particular channel isbeing viewed by a user/subscriber, set top box 30 provides anappropriate signal via filter 28, to splitter 26 over QPSK demodulatorbank 24 through router 12 to advertising server 10 which then serves theappropriate advertisement in real time or via carousel to the viewer viathe video processing unit 16 through inband QAM modulator bank 18through combiner 20, filter 28 to set top box 30 for display on theuser's screen.

[0044] Alternatively, advertisements can be displayed via out-of-bandchannel and via QPSK modulator bank 22 through combiner 20, filter 28,and to the set top box 30 for subsequent display. Thus, advertisementsmay be sent to set top box via either the out-of-band channel via QPSKmodulator or on one of the inband channels via QAM modulators.

[0045] Alternatively, subsets of the total advertisements may bedelivered in real time or for storage via the same channels depending onalgorithms associated with historical viewing habits or other subscriberinformation.

[0046] Referring to FIG. 2, the overall flow for exchange of data andadvertisements of the present invention is illustrated. Set top box isfirst turned on 50 and provides a signal 52 over the cable network tothe cable operator headend that the set top box is online and ready toreceive advertisements.

[0047] The signal is conveyed to advertising server which receives thesignal 54. The signal from the set top box comprise information thatrelates to the individual viewer identifying the individual viewer andthe address to which all subsequent communication is to be conveyed.

[0048] Based upon the individual viewer identification, the advertisingserver retrieves advertising 56 based upon viewer information that isstored at the advertising server or optional subscriber informationserver. The advertising server notes the various channels to which theuser subscribes. This is important since the user may be a subscriber toa basic service or may also have subscribed to certain premium channelswhich would then imply the need for serving additional differentadvertisements to that particular user. The advertising server retrievesthe ads that are appropriate to the channels subscribed to by the viewerand also appropriate to the demographics or other subscriber informationof the particular viewer.

[0049] Advertisements that are retrieved by the advertising server areuploaded over the cable TV system 58 and transmitted to the set top box60 of the particular viewer. As noted earlier, advertisements are taggedwith an appropriate channel and other tags that might be useful for thedisplay of the advertisement. For example, a time slot during the day isalso an appropriate tag for an advertisement since programming changesduring the course of the day to accommodate different viewer groups whomight be viewing a particular channel during a 24-hour period.

[0050] Set top box receives and stores the tagged advertisement 62 forsubsequent display during the course of the viewing day. Thereafter, settop box monitors the transmission of video content 64 as well asdisplays the content in the usual fashion.

[0051] When set top box senses a signal from the cable operator headendthat an advertising trigger is present 66, the set top box senses thefact that an advertising opportunity is beginning, senses the channelwhich the viewer is currently watching 68, and retrieves from localstorage or carousel and displays an advertisement that is tagged to thechannel that the user is currently watching 70. The advertisement isthus displayed appropriate to the channel that is being viewed by theviewer.

[0052]FIG. 3 illustrates a typical arrangement for a set top box used inthe present invention. The set top box 80 comprises a 6-mega hertz tuner82. Signal is presented to an NTSC decoder 84 which provides video andaudio to a graphics processor 86. Video and audio is then output 88 forsubsequent display on the television. Additionally, signal from thetuner 82 is presented to QAM demodulator 90. The signal is thendecrypted 92 and the resultant digital stream is presented to MPEGdemultiplexer/decoder 94 which provides a video and audio stream to thegraphics processor 86 for subsequent video output 88. In band graphicsand sound are also sent from MPEG demultiplexer/decoder 94 through CPU96 to provide graphics and sounds to the graphics processor 86 forsubsequent video and audio output 88. QPSK modulator/demodulator 98allows out of band communication via the set top box. Local storage 100or an optional home server 102 provide the means to store theadvertisements and/or instructions.

[0053] Set top boxes having the potential for the interactions noted inthe present invention are currently available. For example,scientific-Atlanta explorer 2000 set top box currently has theprocessing power to support the present invention.

[0054] A system and method for the display of targeted advertisementover a cable network has been illustrated. It will be appreciated bythose skilled in the art that other variations of the present inventionare possible without departing from the scope of the invention asdisclosed. Such variations could include different methods of taggingand identifying advertisements to be displayed, when the advertisementis ready to be displayed, and the channels over which advertisements areto be displayed. For example, a particular advertisement may bedisplayed over multiple channels but not all channels of a cable system.Thus tags for advertisements can comprise tags associated with more thanone video channel.

[0055] Another modification could include storing profiles on multipleviewers at a subscriber location and requiring login to identify theviewer. Additionally, with the continued convergence of television andcomputers, although the invention has been described above withreference to a set-top-box, for purposes of this disclosure, the term“set-top-box” is defined to include other devices including the requiredelements of the disclosed set-top-box, whether separate from atelevision or not, including, but not limited to, TV tuner-equippedcomputers and digital televisions that have the necessary CPU andstorage means. Likewise, although the invention has been described withrespect to a cable television system/network, these terms are hereindefined to include any network for delivery of streaming audio/videoservices to subscribers, whether wired or wireless. The presentinvention is therefore limited only by the scope of the claims appendedhereto.

We claim:
 1. A method of providing selective advertising on a televisionchannel, comprising: receiving a signal sent from a cable televisionsubscriber's set top box at a cable television operator head end that atelevision subscriber has initiated television viewing; retrievingadvertisements appropriate to the subscriber's subscribed televisionchannels from an advertising server at the cable television operatorhead end; delivering said advertisements to the subscriber's set top boxa cable television network; and having said set top box provideadvertisements appropriate to a viewed channel on said subscriber'stelevision in response to sensing of a trigger.
 2. The method ofproviding selective advertising on a television channel of claim 1,further comprising local storage of the advertisements by said set topbox in advance of any triggers.
 3. The method of providing selectiveadvertising on a television channel of claim 1, wherein said signal andsaid delivering said advertisements are accomplished over an out-of-bandchannel.
 4. The method of providing selective advertising on atelevision channel of claim 1, wherein the advertisements are tagged forparticular channels and said tags are used to determine appropriateadvertisements.
 5. A system for providing selective advertising on atelevision channel, comprising: a cable television network including: acable television operator head end; an advertising server at said cabletelevision operator head end; and a plurality of subscriber set topboxes, wherein said set top boxes each include a CPU and instructions tosignal said cable operator head end when television is being viewed andto insert appropriate advertisements delivered by said advertisingserver over said cable television network upon detection of a trigger.6. The system for providing selective advertising on a televisionchannel of claim 5, wherein the set top box further includes localstorage and instructions to receive advertisements from said advertisingserver in advance of any triggers.
 7. The system for providing selectiveadvertising on a television channel of claim 6, further comprising meansto send said signal and receive said advertisements via an out-of-bandchannel.
 8. The system for providing selective advertising on atelevision channel of claim 5, further comprising channel tags for eachadvertisement and instructions on said set top box to insertadvertisements with channel tags that match a channel being viewed atthe time of the trigger.